During Paul Walker’s brief absence from the Fast and Furioushe starred Into the blue — and could have been the actor’s replacement action-adventure franchise. After playing Brian O’Conner in Fast and Furious and its first sequel, 2 Fast 2 FuriousWalker was missing from the trio, Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. He only returned to the role of Brian in the 2009 soft reboot, simply titled Fast and Furiouswhich moved away from the series’ focus on street racing and turned it into a more straightforward action film franchise.
While Brian is undoubtedly Walker’s most iconic character, he has had a very respectable career outside of the world. Fast and Furious franchise too. He played a notorious bank robber in the heist film Buyershe played a parole violator in the car chase film Vehicle 19and he played a low-level mobster in the neo-noir thriller Running in fear. One of Walker’s main vehicles, Into the blueit was a missed opportunity to headline a new franchise. During your Fast and Furious gap, Into the blue could have launched a Walker-centric franchise to replace her.
Into The Blue Could Have Been Paul Walker’s New Fast & Furious
It does for treasure hunters what The Fast and the Furious did for street racers
In 2005, Walker co-starred with Jessica Alba, Scott Caan and Josh Brolin in the action thriller Into the blue. The plot revolves around a group of divers who go on a treasure hunt to find a sunken plane full of illegal cargo. Into the blue hit theaters during Walker’s Fast and Furious gap. Came out a year before Tokyo Drift and four years before Walker finally reprized his role as Brian in the fourth Fast and Furious film. In theory, could have been the start of a new franchise to replace Fast and Furious on Walker’s agenda.
Into the blue combines the strong sense of adventure of Indiana Jones franchise with the high-octane bombast and deliciously far-fetched absurdity of Fast and Furious franchise. Each film could have followed the divers on a different underwater hunt for a different sunken treasure. They could have gone to a sunken pirate ship in search of lost gold. They could have gone to the wreck of the Titanic looking for antique jewelry from wealthy passengers. This property had infinite possibilities, but failed to recoup its production budget at the box office, grossing US$46,117,696 against a budget of US$50 million (through Mojo Box Office).
Why Paul Walker Returned to The Fast and the Furious After Losing Tokyo Drift
The studio decided to take the franchise in a new direction (which was short-lived)
Walker revealed that Brian’s absence from Tokyo Drift It was a studio decision. After Vin Diesel turned down the offer to appear in the third Fast and Furious film, the studio wanted to take the franchise in a completely different direction. Although Walker, unlike Diesel, was willing to reprise his role after starring in the first two films, studio bosses wanted to move to a spin-off disconnected from the previous films. Tokyo Drift revolves around an entirely new character – Sean Boswell, played by Lucas Black – but he proved not to be as popular as Brian or Dom Toretto.
After Tokyo Drift became the lowest-grossing installment of the Fast and Furious franchise and received mixed reviews from critics, the studio decided to return to the original direction. The next movie, Fast and Furiousmoved away from street racingbut brought back Brian, Dom and the rest of the original team. The only real connection with Tokyo Drift it was Han, whose character proved lovable enough to join the main cast. Any disagreement between Walker and the studio that rejected him for Tokyo Drift was quickly forgotten as he reclaimed his place as the franchise’s star.
Into The Blue got a sequel (but without Paul Walker and Jessica Alba)
Into The Blue 2: The Reef was released directly to DVD in 2009
While Into the blue did not earn enough at the box office to launch a blockbuster franchise and Walker would eventually return to Fast and Furious, Into the blue it eventually got a standalone sequel. Into the Blue 2: Recife It was released straight to DVD in 2009. None of the original actors returnedincluding Walker, so the sequel’s only connection to its predecessor is the title and a similar plot. It revolves around a team of divers who go in search of Columbus’s hidden treasure at the bottom of the sea.
The sequel was directed by Stephen Herek, best known for directing classic comedies like The Mighty Ducks, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventureand Don’t tell mom that the nanny is dead. Since Walker’s charisma was the only reason Into the blue worked on any level, the sequel was pretty disappointing. But it proved that Into the blue had the potential to be a great action film franchise like Fast and Furious.
Source: Mojo Box Office